Capital Gay

Last updated

Front of Capital Gay issue no. 687 (24 March 1995) CapitalGay687.jpg
Front of Capital Gay issue no. 687 (24 March 1995)

Capital Gay was a weekly free gay newspaper published in London founded by Graham McKerrow and Michael Mason. Its first issue was published on 26 June 1981, during Pride Week; the paper folded with the issue dated 30 June 1995. Despite its name, it was also distributed in Brighton and had a combined circulation, in the two cities, of around 20,000 at the time when publication ceased. [1] Initially priced at 20p, it became a freesheet after six months. [1]

McKerrow and Mason met while working at Gay News [2] and designed Capital Gay as a complementary publication. [2] Compared with Gay News, which was fortnightly and had an 11-day lead time between print deadline and its availability, Capital Gay had a shorter production time of 24 hours, and came out more frequently, every week. [2] The aim was to provide a news service for London and Brighton, particularly for users of the growing commercial lesbian and gay scene, [2] to provide a link between the political movement and the commercial scene, and to facilitate swifter political responses by the LGBT movement than had previously been possible. [2] The news pages covered politics and non-political news, while regular contributors provided comment and analysis.

Capital Gay sponsored the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard and involved itself in events in the wider gay community in London; its editorial line tended to be strong. It is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with being the first publication in the world to use the term HIV (the second being the international science journal Nature ); [1] [3] it also hosted the world's first regular column on AIDS, which was written by Julian Meldrum in 1984. For some years, with no reliable information on the threat of AIDS publicly available in the medical or national press, Capital Gay widened its distribution to cover cities with large gay populations including Manchester and Brighton. Copies were sent by rail and distributed to local clubs, bars and hotels by volunteers.

During the controversy over Section 28 in December 1987, the paper's offices were targeted in an arson attack. After being accused by Labour MP Tony Banks of legitimising the incident, Conservative Member of Parliament Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman was quoted in Hansard as saying: "I am quite prepared to affirm that it is quite right that there should be an intolerance of evil." [4] [5]

Editors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaëtan Dugas</span> Canadian flight attendant, long misidentified as the index case of the North American AIDS Crisis

Gaëtan Dugas was a Québécois Canadian flight attendant and a relatively early patient with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), who once was widely described as "Patient Zero", accusing him of introducing HIV to the United States. This claim has since been proven incorrect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS denialism</span> False belief that HIV does not cause AIDS

HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACT UP</span> International AIDS activism, direct action and advocacy group

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.

Gay News was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). At the newspaper's height, circulation was 18,000 to 19,000 copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Shilts</span> American journalist and writer (1951–1994)

Randy Shilts was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations. In the 1980s, he was noted for being the first openly gay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Willis Chapman "Chip" Arndt Jr. is an American gay activist, best known as a winner of The Amazing Race 4 in 2003 with former partner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Arndt attended Hotchkiss School, Yale University, and Harvard University, where he was the president of the Harvard Business School Gay and Lesbian Student Association. Prior to The Amazing Race, he worked as an investment banker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Pride (Ottawa)</span> Annual LGBT pride week festival in Ottawa, Ontario

Ottawa Capital Pride is an annual LGBT pride event, festival, and parade held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Gatineau, Quebec, from mid to late August. Established in 1986, it has evolved into a 7 to 9-day celebration of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, advocating for equality, diversity, and inclusion in the National Capital Region. The festival offers bilingual events in English and French, known as 'Capital Pride / Fierté dans la capitale', seamlessly blending local pride with national importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall–Carpenter Archives</span>

The Hall–Carpenter Archives (HCA), founded in 1982, are the largest source for the study of gay activism in Britain, following the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957. The archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943) and Edward Carpenter (1844–1929). They are housed at the London School of Economics, at Bishopsgate Library –, and in the British Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights</span> American political rally and demonstration

The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1987. Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led to it being called, "The Great March". It marked the first national coverage of ACT UP, with AIDS activists prominent in the main march, as well as making headlines the next day during mass civil disobedience actions at the United States Supreme Court Building.

Gay Community News was an American weekly newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1999. Designed as a resource for the LGBT community, the newspaper reported a wide variety of gay and lesbian-related news.

The history of HIV/AIDS in Australia is distinctive, as Australian government bodies recognised and responded to the AIDS pandemic relatively swiftly, with the implementation of effective disease prevention and public health programs, such as needle and syringe programs (NSPs). As a result, despite significant numbers of at-risk group members contracting the virus in the early period following its discovery, Australia achieved and has maintained a low rate of HIV infection in comparison to the rest of the world.

<i>And the Band Played On</i> (film) 1993 American television film by Roger Spottiswoode

And the Band Played On is a 1993 American television film docudrama directed by Roger Spottiswoode. The teleplay by Arnold Schulman is based on the best-selling 1987 non-fiction book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts, and is noteworthy for featuring both a vast historical scope, as well as an exceptionally sprawling cast.

<i>New York Native</i> Defunct gay newspaper published in New York City

The New York Native was a biweekly gay newspaper published by Charles Ortleb in New York City from December 1980 until January 13, 1997. It was the only gay paper in New York City during the early part of the AIDS epidemic, and pioneered reporting on AIDS when most others ignored it. The paper subsequently became known for attacking the scientific understanding of HIV as the cause of AIDS and endorsing HIV/AIDS denialism.

<i>Siegessäule</i> (magazine) German queer monthly

Siegessäule is Berlin's most widely distributed queer magazine and has been published monthly, except for two brief hiatuses, since April 1984. Originally only available in West Berlin, it ran with the subtitle "Berlin's monthly page for Gays". In 1996, it was broadened to include lesbian content, and in 2005 it was expanded to reach a wider queer target base, becoming the only magazine of its scale in Europe to represent the full spectrum of the LGBT community. The magazine is available for free at around 700 locations in Berlin, printing 53.688 copies per month. Since March-issue 2013, it has been overseen by chief editor Jan Noll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Section 28</span> Former British anti-homosexuality law

Section 28 or Clause 28 was a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, it was in effect from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales. It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student support groups to close, limit their activities or self-censor.

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the United Kingdom. There is evidence that LGBT activity in the United Kingdom existed as far back as the days of Celtic Britain.

<i>And the Band Played On</i> 1987 book by Randy Shilts

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a 1987 book by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts. The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a special emphasis on government indifference and political infighting—specifically in the United States—to what was then perceived as a specifically gay disease. Shilts's premise is that AIDS was allowed to happen: while the disease is caused by a biological agent, incompetence and apathy toward those initially affected allowed its spread to become much worse.

New York City was affected by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s more than any other U.S. city. The AIDS epidemic has been and continues to be highly localized due to a number of complex socio-cultural factors that affect the interaction of the populous communities that inhabit New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcom Gregory Scott</span> American screenwriter

Malcom Gregory Scott also known as Greg Scott, is an American writer, activist, and AIDS survivor. In 1987, the United States Navy (USN) discharged him for homosexuality, after which Scott worked to overturn the Department of Defense (DoD) directive prohibiting the military service of lesbian and gay Americans. Upon his discharge, Scott also learned he had tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). He was active in the Washington, D.C., chapters of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Scott was an advocate for legal access to medical marijuana, a critic of early HIV prevention education strategies, and a proponent for expanded academic research to support the public policy goals of queer communities. American journalist Michelangelo Signorile once called Scott "the proudest queer in America." Scott worked as a writer for Fox Television's America's Most Wanted, and his writing has appeared in several newspapers and magazines. Scott nearly died of Stage IV AIDS in 1995 and credited marijuana with his survival until effective anti-retroviral therapies became available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS activism</span> Social movement advocating for a societal response to HIV/AIDS

Social and political activism to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, as well as to raise funds for effective treatment and care of people with AIDS (PWAs), has taken place in multiple nations across the world since the 1980s. As a disease that began in marginalized populations, efforts to mobilize funding, treatment, and fight discrimination have largely been dependent on the work of grassroots organizers directly confronting public health organizations as well as politicians, drug companies, and other institutions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Capital Gay". The Knitting Circle. Lesbian and Gay Staff Association, London South Bank University. Archived from the original on 1 April 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Marc Thompson (22 September 2021). "Introducing We Were Always Here" (Podcast). Broccoli Productions. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  3. "HIV, noun" . Oxford English Dictionary . 1986: 'An international committee on viral names has been looking into the problem, and was rumoured to have agreed on 'human immune deficiency virus' (HIDV or HIV).' Capital Gay 11 April 4.
    1986: 'We propose that the AIDS retroviruses be officially designated as the human immunodeficiency viruses, to be known in abbreviated form as HIV.' J. Coffin et al. in Nature 1 May 10.
  4. "House of Commons debate December 15 1987". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 15 December 1987. vol 124 cc987-1038. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  5. Pierce, Andrew (2 July 2009). "Cheers ring out as David Cameron lays Tory history of homophobia to rest". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.